


RWBY Scout Series: Forever More, Fight On

by LightningDragon



Series: RWBY Scout Series [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:08:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24183394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningDragon/pseuds/LightningDragon
Summary: I wanted to take a more personal look at the motivations of the characters and the quiet moments in the hectic lives of Team RWBY. Today we find Ruby Rose keeping watch over an abandoned village. Enjoy!
Series: RWBY Scout Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745395
Kudos: 4





	RWBY Scout Series: Forever More, Fight On

Ruby sat overwatch on the roof of an abandoned building. The cold winds of Atlas blew from behind her. She adjusted her scope to the wind, and took aim at a small grimm a few hundred yards away. She locked in her scope. If the small beowulf came any closer to their campout, she would happily put a bullet through it. But she didn’t want to alert any nearby grimm, so she kept her scope aimed, and hoped it would move along. The grimm seemed to sit around for a bit, scavenging the wasteland village for any sign of life. She could almost empathize with the creature, if it wasn’t hell-bent on killing humans and faunus alike. All it was doing was trying to find food, and maybe return to it’s pack. Ruby had her group, isolated from the rest of her “pack” of society in Atlas. Like this creature, if nothing went wrong, in a few hours time it would be morning and their mission here would be finished, allowing them to return home. The beowulf twitched, smelling the air. Ruby held her breath, readying her aim. The creature kept smelling, it almost seemed like it found something. It began crawling her way. Ruby held her breath, focused her aim, and just like she was taught, put her finger on the trigger to fire, like so many times before. But then, the beowulf turned. It sensed something behind it, outside of the small village. It growled at the trees behind the outskirts of the village, and ran after something.

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief, and lowered her gun. Just another in many false alarms, like so many on these missions. She felt a pang of concern for whatever that beowulf went after. It could be another camp, just like theirs. Maybe even one without four trained huntsmen able to defend themselves. After all, they were here to get intel on the state of local life outside Atlas. So far, all they had found was cold tundra and abandoned villages. Whether they had failed due to monsters, cold, or both was unclear. All that was clear now was that the team was spending the night in this abandoned house, full of keepsakes from a time before, a time where it was possible to survive outside of the northernmost kingdom on Remnant. She scanned the wasted village again, now truly devoid of life with the exception of 4 souls.

The house had been interesting when they found it in the center of town. It was the most preserved building in a ruined landscape, and was easily defendable, making a nice base of operations. While they didn’t find anything resembling life except monsters, they did find a time capsule, or at least something close to it for life out here. A family lived here. It looked like they had a nice life as well, living a healthy, productive life. Or at least as much as one was possible outside the kingdom. Ruby had even found a journal of one of the residents of this place, and it was her only source of entertainment outside the local signals of Atlas that gave her usual source of entertainment to her scroll. With no signs of life, she got back to skimming this time vial to the past of this place. While sitting, she got to learn the story of this family. A hardworking family, this group seemed to be part of Mantle before the Great War, before the destruction that gripped Remnant in chaos. She read about how in the aftermath, many were disillusioned with the government in Mantle, angry at the country’s handling of the war, and tired of the daily troubles of kingdom life. She saw how a family left the relative safety of Mantle, then one of the strongest kingdoms in the world, to build a simple life out here on the tundra.

She read about how a discovery of dust underground here lead to a boom. Families would come from all around to try to strike it rich. This family seemed to be lucky, with what seemed to be an early discovery referenced, the group that owned this house seemed able to set down roots and have one of the nicer houses in town. Considering it was one of the only usable ones left, the family must have been able to invest in some type of material to help this house last. The ending of the story was unclear, however. In the last journal entry dated about three years after the founding of the village, a lonely wife complains about the harsh winters, and the long hours of waiting for her husband to come out of the dust mines. While it is a lonely account, there is nothing here that shows imminent danger. If they had more time and will, maybe it could serve as a fun adventure mystery. What happened?

Unfortunately, reality held more important objectives. This wasn’t a historical expedition, but a military one. This wasn’t Mountain Glen, with it’s large expanse of ruinous city and cavernous caves beneath. This was a small abandoned village on a tundra miles from any significant civilization, with a mine long extracted dry from Schnee mining operations. It seemed they came in after the village was abandoned, and with their superior expertise and technology they probably got the most of the wealth this place had to offer anyhow.  
No, the mission was not exploration, but scouting. If Atlas was to safely defend against Salem, then Atlas must know where any of her sympathizers were. Sure, there could be information of value for some historical society (why do you think she had the journal stored in her bag), but their main target was enemies of the state. So far, no luck on that front. Another scan of the area continued to show lifelessness. In the dead tundra night, it seemed nothing was alive for miles on end. Still, complacency bred danger, and team RWBY had enough surprises in their journey to last a lifetime, and preferred not to encounter any more tonight.

Ruby saw something in the distance. Using her scope, she zoomed in. A small bird, maybe a small bird-like grim, out in the distance. As her breath misted in the air, she shivered at the thought of the end of this town. Whether by grim, human elements, or some combination, the ruins that were left here were no accident. Though the buildings certainly showed their age, the ruins showed an end to civilized life here that was neither peaceful nor expected. She thought back to Mantle and Atlas. Sure, this village was a tiny dot on their screen, but a dot nonetheless. They were a short ride away by airship, and the kingdom knew this place well, so much so as being the reason they were here. With one of the most powerful militaries in the world, how could they let a village like this fall? All the value, both in terms of civilized life and dust extraction opportunity, and despite this Atlas can’t protect one village? Ruby feared the fall of this place was no mistake.

The mines below once held enough riches for Weiss to recognize the name of the village from an old report in her father’s office. Blake recognized this place as a former White Fang hideout once upon a time. Something had happened at this place, and Ruby feared the answer was a lot less sunshine and rainbows that what the briefing told them before the mission. The file concluded that no significant casualties happened before this place was abandoned, but significant signs of battle, albeit old ones, existed around town. It creeped Ruby out, but it also intrigued her. What secrets were here? What did Atlas have to hide? Ironwood hadn’t exactly been a beacon of truth since the team had arrived in Atlas, but neither had many others. Could it be something related to the military, to the Schnee Dust Company? Both? It paralleled in some ways to their own journey, one that had its own share of secrets, destruction, and ruins. One that like the village they occupied, originated in a happy, peaceful environment, and now led to a ruinous wasteland in the dark tundra.

Ruby was always the positive one. Even with the twists and turns of their journey to Atlas, even with signs that it was going to get worse before it got better, she always knew how to inspire the group. How to uplift their spirits. How to help the team get back on their feet and fight another in an endless line of battles. But life kept throwing them curveballs. With all the mystery and concern over Ironwood, with all the threats outside with Salem and within from Jacques, Robyn, and more, how does she operate as a leader? This wasn’t just her team anymore, shooting grimm in training at Beacon. This was a group of many, on a quest that could decide the fate of the world. And here Ruby was, out on a scouting mission in some unnamed village in the literal middle of nowhere. Sure, Ruby could inspire and lead the team through tough times. The battles of Beacon, Haven, and Argus, just to name a few, more than proved that.

But when the chips fell, when Salem showed her true hand, how would Ruby react? Atlas was different. There were clear enemies, but also those in the shadows. Was Ironwood the enemy? Or a friend? The same could be said for Robyn, or even Jacques. Sure, Jacques would never be liked, or even tolerated, among the group. That ship had sailed long ago. But what if his election was a good thing for Atlas and Mantle as a whole? Sure, Blake and Weiss would be especially dismissive of that opinion, but with so little known about Robyn, at least Jacques was a known evil. What if Ruby was walking the team into immediate danger, just because they knew Ironwood and trusted his word over others?

Ruby looked at the bird again. It was still too far away to tell if it was really just a bird or grimm, but honestly, at that distance, who cared? Another scan of the town below and beyond revealed nothing new of interest, and it seemed like Ruby would be destined for a night shift quiet and somewhat peaceful, if a bit chilly. She examined Crescent Rose, like she had for years now. The weapon had served her well, and stayed a trustworthy tool through thick and thin. She joked to herself, if people were as reliable and trustworthy as Crescent Rose, then there wouldn’t be a need to be stuck out here tonight.

She looked around one last time, unsure of the future ahead. No doubt, the days and weeks ahead wouldn’t be easy. At the very least, they knew trouble was coming with election day coming up. The embargo and threats from Salem were constant concerns as well. But like this abandoned village, and the memories it held of it’s people, she stood. She was still here, after everything. No, the future wouldn’t be easy, but she was never one to back down from a challenge, and neither were her teammates and friends.

She stood up, trying to keep warm in the freezing air. It was time to switch turns on watch with Weiss, and not a moment too soon. The air was so cold Ruby thought she would freeze solid if she sat too much longer. She went back downstairs and finally got to relax a bit and try to get some rest. But she still couldn’t shake the feelings of isolation. A place like this does that to you. After the encounter at Brunswick Farms, she had a very good idea of what that feeling was. It kept her up enough that she couldn’t fall asleep.

Now in the living room, she took out the journal again. A bit of reading couldn’t hurt in this quest for rest. Reading again, she reveled in the stories of triumph. She empathized in the stories of hardship. She too was angry, hopeful, and inspired by the story of common folk mining dust isolated in a wasteland. One day she dreamed someone would write a book about their journey. Hopefully it was a happy story, and hopefully one with a good ending. Ruby didn’t know where this quest would lead, but she did know that there was no choice but to move forward. Through thick and thin, she had survived and fought with this group, and nothing was going to stop them from continuing to do that. Forever more, fight on.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! This was my first posting of fan writing, and I really appreciate any constructive criticism you guys might have. I probably will be continuing the series in some form here on AO3, so keep a look out for more work on this topic in the near future!


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